I'm new in server-side programming. I need lampp and mysql running on my computer. I have installed mysql using tasksel lamp-server, and then install php with apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5 phpmyadmin. And now I have now ideas how to use them. In xampp on Windows I needed only to copy my php files in htdocs directory. How to run php files in Linux and connect them to my MySQL?

and then, you should configure you server.
1, Test apache, open you browser, and enter 127.0.0.1, if "It Works!" appears, okay.
2, Test php, create a file under /var/www, and name is "index.php", the content is:

<!--?php phpinfo(); ?-->

save and open the url "127.0.0.1/index.php", the php info should appear, if not, make sure you have proper permission.

3, Configure and test you phpmyadmin.
first, run as root,

sudo -i #run as root
cd /etc/apache2/conf.d

and then create a file named "phpmyadmin-web.conf" or other you like, and the content of the file is:

Forbidden You don't have permission to access /1.php on this server. Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
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Nick SargsyanJun 21 '12 at 6:35